Rat Tales

You're lucky I don't have pictures for this one. Shyeah, as if I'd grab a camera to capture this.

Two days ago, Josh and I came home from work. I've actually started to feel more comfortable in our apartment, as we'd spent last weekend rearranging furniture and improving our digs with Ikea bedding and housewares. So, it was like any other weekday, my throat was sore, my mind was tired. (Yay teaching!) Josh went into the kitchen as I am putting my backpack down.

"Brit, did you-shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!!!!!!"

"What?!" I ask. Then I see. It looked like a weird stick or plant was just sticking out of the sink. All of a sudden it starts flopping around. It reminded me of the sea monster from Godzilla (Yeah, I don't know why my mind went there first). And within seconds, That weird flopping stick turned into a rat's butt, and then a whole dang rat. And no, it wasn't small. It scurried under the gas burners and I pretty much just stood there with a dropped jaw. Josh closed off the kitchen and went for the can of Raid. Being the sissy that I am, I ran to the bedroom, closed the door, and tried to comprehend what I'd just seen. I heard some thumps and bangs. After a few minutes I went to see how Josh "the Exterminator" Deitner, handled this.  Apparently he just started spraying it to prevent a ninja attack, and then it decided our peanut butter lined drain wasn't worth it and he plummeted back down into the sewer (The rat, not Josh).

So, that happened.

I was just starting to warm up to the idea of cooking in that kitchen even though it was a cockroach graveyard. Now that I know it's a handy portal for sewer rats, I'm not so keen. I can barely rinse a spoon without staring at the drain expecting to see a sea monster.

These are the stories that color my life interesting, right?

Um, I'll take monotony over this crap any day.

First Week of School

Here's what that looked like.

 

Here's my good class:

 I love them!

 Here's my not so good class. Obviously, we're going to change that:

Last weekend was Teacher's Day. A few of my students brought me flowers and candy. The school hosted a mandatory sleepover at Chongming Island, which is about two hours away. We had a super fancy meal, had to do a performance (seriously?) and got a Y1000 (about $150) bonus and a gift. And they put us up in this swanky hotel. After the meal/presentations, our international department took a trip to a local KTV which is similar to the Korean norebangs, or private karaoke rooms. We had such fun getting to know all the new teachers, and yeah.. you know me- I got to sing Abba and Kylie Minogue!

Here's our new coworkers/friends:

Some of the Chinese teachers performing...

We sang "All of We is One Family" which is a Bahamian song that Bonnie, our head teacher, taught us.

And here's some of the food:

We thought this was snake. Luckily, it was only eel! Super slimy though.

And our gift? 45 eggs, corn, beans, and some weird pickled vegetables.

Amidst all this work craziness, we have been entertaining (or trying to entertain) our guest, Pete, from the UK. During our working hours, he's managed to see a lot of cool things in the city. We did manage to join him for a trip to Nanjing Road and the Bund.

Mao is Batman now.

I fell in love with this city when I saw all the lights of the Bund.

 

Nanjing Road - One hot shopping spot. Oh yeah, Forever 21 COMING SOON!!

And there you have it. Our first week here in Shanghai. I think I'm gonna like it here.

Hello Shanghai!

Talk about a bumpy start. I'd say that ever since I quit my job in America, getting in those final family visits in, I've been in a surreal fog. We're not really moving to China. I'm just telling people that.

On our connecting flights to L.A. and then Beijing, I still didn't connect the dots to what these journeys actually meant. All flights were relatively painless and seemed quite quick actually. It wasn't until we arrived in Beijing that the jetlag hit me like a ton of bricks. After filing a report for our lost luggage, we try to check in to our final flight to Shanghai. And it was cancelled. So then, after standing in what seemed like horribly long lines, we manage to get a flight to a different airport in Shanghai, two hours later. At this point, I'd been awake for about 30 real hours. I was ready to go Hulk on someone. Waiting, waiting, lines, delays, waiting, waiting, flight, waiting, waiting, finally an available taxi. I was so over this.

After arriving at our hotel at around 2:30 am, 4 hours later than expected, we simply collapsed; only to toss and turn, then waking up at 5. It's just one of the effects of time travel, I suppose.

The next few days seem like a blur to me now, since it was so long ago. We had a medical check, orientation for work, and apartment hunting. The apartment we settled on was not exactly my favorite. We looked at four total. Two were completely out of the question. They were just old and gross. The one I prefered was only a one bedroom but it was completely redone and SUPER clean. The one we settled on was similar, but had an extra bedroom and was a little cheaper. It was dirtier, but you know... you can clean it, right? The dead cockroach on the t.v. was the the beginning.

Fortunately, Raid is readily available. After two cans. We were seeing some serious roach corpses. And here you go, my first picture of China for you:

This pretty much set the tone for the rest of our first week. I was hating everything.  I was comparing every little thing to Korea. "It's not as good," I kept telling myself. Multiple times a day, I was saying I hated it and I didn't want to be here. Poor Josh. He even cleaned up the nasties without even saying a word, so I didn't have to do it. I wasn't crazy about the food that we had gambled on and tried, I couldn't get the internet to work in public hotspots, I felt that the people on the street were so unfriendly. I was hating China. Key word: Was.

I find it ironic that I had started reading "Pollyanna" the week before coming here. If you are unfamiliar, the premise is about a recently orphaned girl, Pollyanna who goes to live with her aunt, and in the end teaches everyone around her to be glad for what they have in any circumstance- "The Glad Game."

The first week here, I've been so wrapped up in self pity, that I didn't even want to think of all the things I'm glad for. I can't say enough how glad I am to have Josh here with me. I honestly couldn't do this alone (yeah, that's super cliche but TRUE). I'm completely flabbergasted by these girls who come to Asia alone. I'm such a chicken! I am beyond grateful to have the internet. Technology is a wonderful, amazing thing. If I ever here you cursing it- I will beat you up.

Oh, did I mention my old college roommate just happens to live in the same city with her husband. Say whaaaat?

Here's Bri and I, reunited after 7 years or so.

Things are really looking up. (Getting the internet was a big deal!!) We're keeping the apartment extra clean, and slowly but surely we're buying minimal necessities such as pillows and silverware. Just yesterday we discovered a really cool park and an AMAZING vegetable market. It's right outside our apartment complex!

 We already have our first visitor too! Our friend Pete from the UK is here on business. I only wish he would have brought Jack with him :( It's nice to have a familiar face around.

I'm also super glad to have KFC just around the corner. This really took the edge off when I had a meltdown last week.....

I can't tell you much about my job right now, last week we just prepared and worked on planning lessons. Tomorrow I will meet my students for the first time. I will be teaching two classes: 3rd and 4th grade. Our focus will be English lessons, though we will also teach Science, P.E., and library throughout the week. I'll try not to be a slacker and take more pictures for the coming posts.

And here I am. It was a rough start, but of course things are getting better. Things are getting better all the time.

I'm happy. We're where we are supposed to be.